Cult of Conner
History Origin The Cult of Conner was a secretive religious cult that formed on Earth following the death of Conner Kent at the hands of Superman-Prime. Following his death, many people around the world felt grief over the heroic death of Superboy and believed that their purpose was to prepare the world for the return of the hero. This was not their sole belief as their fixation on resurrection meant that anyone dead was capable of being brought back to life. It borrowed heavily from Kryptonian theology and was considered a resurrection cult. This meant that it adopted numerous Kryptonian beliefs such as steadfast worship in the sun deity Rao and that immersion within the striped waters of the River Memon granted visions of the afterlife. Immersion in the Waters of Memon and the warming of their bodies by the Fires of Threntar were aspects that they adopted from ancient Kryptonian beliefs. Members of the Cult created authentic altars seemingly made of Kryptonian crystals where they made their prayers. Their symbol was the Kryptonian word for Hope which was the "S" icon on Conner's chest but placed upside down which meant resurrection. At this point, it was led by a male human by the name of Devem who created a group of worshippers that moved from a step beyond simply faith as he believed he had found information in the holy texts that allowed for bringing back the dead. Thus, the group was dedicated in their belief that they were able to bring about the rebirth of Kon-El and that his holy spirit would return someday. This led to Cassie Sandsmark joining the group as she was in love with Conner Kent and wanted him to be brought back to life. As such, she became their chief acolyte and she claimed that Devem immersed her in the waters of Memon where she saw her lost love. Following that moment, she began making video recordings that were transmitted to numerous cult members around the world where she read a sermon in Superboy's name. In addition, membership ranged from young adults to children who wore the symbol of the Cult of Conner either as pendants or on their red robes with numerous underground churches established to serve as bases of operation. At the first sign of discovery, the Cultists often scurried in order to avoid exposure to their activities. 52 The Cult's existence was discovered by Ralph Dibny, formerly the superhero detective known as the Elongated Man who retired from the practice following the death of his wife, Sue Dibny. As he came to her grave, he saw the symbol of the Cult which he believed defaced the tombstone and began investigating who the culprits were in order to punish them. He eventually tracked down Cassie Sandsmark and believed her to be responsible for leaving the mark of the Cult on his wifes tombstone whereupon he confronted her on everything he knew about them. She later took him to a temple used by the Cult of Conner and explained that they believed in the Kryptonian beliefs surrounding resurrection as well as peering into the afterlife for loved ones. To convince him, they immersed him in the waters of Memon only to steal his wedding ring and leave him alone. This made him fixated on tracking down the resurrection cult as he believed them to be frauds that had cheated him which led him to determining that they were now located in Metropolis. At first, he attempted to enlist the aid of Booster Gold but became disgusted with his former teammates single minded pursuit of fame. After that point, he asked for the aid of Green Arrow where they tracked a Cultist activity in Star City. It was there that Dibny learnt that the Cult was attempting to bring the dead back to life. In Washington D.C., he attacked a group of Cultists wearing pendants that had the Cult's symbol on it and attempted to try to use one of the captured members to track down their base. However, he was shocked when he realized that he had attacked a child which allowed another member of the Cult of Conner to knock him out and allow the pair to escape. Afterwards, the Cult committed an act of burglary by breaking into Opal City Storage and stealing the clothes of Sue Dibny. It was then revealed that the Cult had created a mannequin containing all items linked to Sue Dibny in an attempt to bring about her resurrection as a test trial or a later attempt on Conner Kent which was not known by Dibny. Ralph Dibny later managed to successfully track down Cassie Sandsmark in Philadelphia where she was using a fake name. When he confronted her on what he knew, she revealed that they were trying to bring back his wife first and that Cassie did not believe he would help them willingly. However, he revealed that he would do anything to bring back his wife and decided to take part in their rite. Thus, he was taken to a Cult ceremony intended to bring about the resurrection of Sue Dibny. But unknown to Cassie and the Cultists, he had Hal Jordan, Metamorpho, Zauriel and Green Arrow infiltrate the ceremony. At first, they believed he wanted them to round up the secret Cultists but he confessed by way of telepathy being transmitted from the Green Lantern Power Ring that he wanted their opinion on whether the Cult would succeed. He based his belief on the deaths faced by his friends but they convinced him that the entire event was an act designed to trick worshippers into Devem. This led to the heroes attacking the Cultists and destroying their ceremony site which led to Cassie attacking them. Ralph Dibny in the meantime pursued Devem and believed him to be a manipulating con-artist. But Devem confessed that the rites were real and the burning remains of Sue Dibny's fascimile body convinced Ralph that he had made a mistake. In grief, he confessed to Devem that he did not know and should have doubted - asking them to try again but Devem revealed that the sacred waters of Memon along with the Blood Kryponite were destroyed which meant that they had lost all chance of repeating the ritual. Shortly afterwards, the building exploded which seemingly put an act to the Cult of Conner. Notes *Coming Soon Trivia *Coming Soon Links *http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Cult_of_Conner Category:Teams